unfolding land and sky

First Impressions

So… if I am being completely honest with myself I’ve been in some what of a creative rut. This is a difficulty thing for an artist, especially one who uses her passion in her day to day job.

Well that all changed a little while ago, as the wonderful place where I work invested in a printing press.

I haven’t done any serious printmaking [other than dabbling in mono print] since my early University years. The acquisition of this miniature press has had a really positive effect on my creative thinking and because of this I am about to show my first print in an exhibition in over 10 year.

My first impressions off the press were needless to say not what I hoped for or expected. However, having a new [old] skill to hone and improve has been exactly what I needed to find the drive to make again.

My concentration has shifted. I have for a very long time, focused my exploration into the understanding of the intangible, or the unknowable. Sky, and looking up, has for so long been my artistic identity, that I have perhaps lost sight of what made me interested in the subjects in the first place. The act of truly perceiving something, really looking, not only on your own terms but through others eyes, was always at the centre of what I was trying to convey. And I’ve realised that through my obsession with weather and sky and i have perhaps lost the opportunity of turning the focus on something more accessible and familiar.

The minutia in our everyday environments have so many overlooked wonders, this is the focus of my new work. Concentrating on single specimens, I am setting out to explore how plants and other natural phenomena have been and are being presented for our examination.

Linocut

The first work in the series is “Lambs Tongue” [above], a little known about fern with a lot of charm. You can see the work at The Shining Tree’s new exhibition from Saturday the 25th of February 2017.